At a total of 41 books, this adds up to just over three a month, which to a voracious reader is pretty shameful. I’m keeping in mind that for the past few months I wasn’t able to read hardly anything for pleasure because of how busy I was with work and school-related stuff. There are also a few more that I read most of, but didn’t finish for one reason or another, that I didn’t include. I write them all down so that I’ll remember them. Even reading over this list just now reminded me of ones that I had almost forgotten about. Here goes:
1) Caramelo, by Sandra Cisneros
2) The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, by Mark Twain
3) Getting Over It, by Anna Maxted
4) Sula, by Toni Morrison
5) I’ll Take You There, by Joyce Carol Oates
6) Invisible Man, by Ralph Ellison
7) The Sun Also Rises, by Ernest Hemingway
Sophie’s Choice, by William Styron
9) The Jungle, by Upton Sinclair
10) Empire Falls, by Richard Russo
11) The Lovely Bones, by Alice Sebold
12) The Grapes of Wrath, by John Steinbeck
13) The Master Butchers Singing Club, by Louise Erdrich
14) The Assistant, by Bernard Malamud
15) The Covenant, by Beverly Lewis
16) Resistance, by Anita Shreve
17) The Kitchen God’s Wife, by Amy Tan
18) The Bluest Eye, by Toni Morrison
19) The Black Rose, by Tananarive Due
20) The Hungry Gene, by Ellen Ruppel Shell
21) Kitchen Confidential, by Anthony Bourdain
22) The Making of June, by Annie Ward
23) My Antonia, by Willa Cather
24) Like Water For Chocolate, by Laura Esquivel
25) The Whole Woman, by Germaine Greer
26) Fat Land, by Greg Critser
27) Fire With Fire, by Naomi Wolf
28) The King of Torts, by John Grisham
29) Quentins, by Maeve Binchy
30) What Women Want, by Patricia Ireland
31) Wasted, by Marya Hornbacher
32) Shutterbabe, by Deborah Copaken Kogan
33) Tara Road, by Maeve Binchy
34) Black Like Me, by John Howard Griffin
35) The Hundred Secret Senses, by Amy Tan
36) The Lord of the Flies, by William Golding
37) The Mismeasure of Man, by Stephen Jay Gould
38) Sidewalk, by Mitchell Duneier
39) Blood in the Face, by James Ridgeway
40) Strip City, by Lily Burana
41) The Da Vinci Code, by Dan Brown
11 Comments
That’s an excellent list – you’re reading the good stuff too!! Seriously, anyone reading any amount is a good thing. I’ve recently been reading Jonathan Franzen’s “How To Be Alone” – a collection of essays all dealing with, to some degree, reading and its abundantly clear that most of America just doesn’t read a thing! So, be proud of what you read in 2003!
Thanks Mr. Cactus, I can always count on you to put a positive spin on things. A lot of those old, “classic” books were ones that I’ve heard about in the past but just never took the time to read. I’d have to say that my favorites from that list are “The Grapes of Wrath” and “The Jungle.” Even though I shouldn’t have been, I was still surprised that I would enjoy books written so long ago.
I feel dumb.
I’m proud of you Z. I’ve just agreed to myself to read one of your selections very soon.
Anytime! Seriously, you should be proud. Overall, I think if you’re reading, you’re ahead of the game. Don’t forget about some of the great contemporary, more unknown stuff.
Brittney I feel dumb and lazy, lol.
Chris Cactus—I think I read a pretty varied selection. There’s some old stuff in there, but I definitely browse the “New” and “Bestseller” sections of the library as well. I just started one of the books that I saw recommended on your site last week (”The Book of Illusions” by Paul Auster)…really enjoying it so far. We’ll have to compare reading lists!
Oh, and Elissa—I give you all the encouragement in the world when it comes to reading, but I also think I’ll believe it when I see it.
LUV YA!
I’m feeling fat and sassy.
Seriously, how do you remember all those books? I couldn’t remember anything I read last month until I started keeping up with it.
Mikro –
That’s exactly why I write them down as soon as I finish reading them, otherwise there would be no way I could remember them all.
Nice list! I might steal a couple of those titles to read this year. (And it’s nice to know that I’m not the only one who makes a list of books read over the course of the year.)
-j.